The KodaFit Blog

I’ve realized a couple of things in the last week or so…

First, if I wait until I’m in the right frame of mind to write a report, it probably won’t happen - hence today, I’m not in a writing frame of mind, but I’m going to give it a shot anyway.

Second, my race reports are far too long.  I read a friend’s report of IronMan Florida, which he began with an apology about the length of it, and it was significantly shorter than any report I’ve done.

So…  Silverman 2009, a report on the half Iron Distance!

This was to be my “A” race for the year.  I signed up last November and had my leave and  hotel accommodations booked by mid year.  Training could probably have been more intense prior to the race, and I developed some IT Band problems in my right left the week before.  I’ve been racing since February and done entirely far too many races this year.  That’s not to say I haven’t loved every minute of it, but I do think there are improvements to be gained by focusing on fewer races in a shorter season.

Lesson 1: Shorter, more focused race season.

We arrived Friday and I got checked in minutes before packet pick up closed.   The expo looked great, but sadly it was closed to, and I never got back there the next day to check it out fully.  Silverman has a reputation for having the greatest swag of any race, as well as being the toughest race in the world.  They didn’t disappoint with the swag, and I’m pretty sure the degree of difficulty was dead on as well.

Saturday morning I attended the mandatory pre-race meeting, which was fun and informative and then headed off to Lake Mead with the fam to check my bike and transition bags in.

Lesson 2: I need to develop my own personal checklists for races.  Saturday night as I was going to be, I realized that I’d left half my run stuff out of my bag - nothing essential, but nerve racking none-the less.

Saturday we had In N’ Out burger for lunch, and by dinner I wasn’t feeling hungry.  We grabbed some quick meals from Walmart, and I grabbed a little sushi kit.   It was OK, but without Wasabi, or any meat or veges in the rice, it was a little bland.  It was hard to tell if it was nerves, or if something was up with my stomach.

Sunday morning came way too soon, although I was grateful for about 6 hours of solid sleep.

I walked from our hotel to the Carls Jr. at Sunset Station and join a few other nervous athletes.  I was really early, but some of the guys were doing the iron distance, and were getting really nervous.  Especially when 45 minutes later the bus hadn’t shown up yet.  Fortunately someone ran over to the hotel and found out that the buses were arriving on the other side.

I snagged one of the last seats on a bus and off we went.  I’d skipped breakfast, since I wasn’t feeling to good, attributing it to nerves, but riding out on the bus, I got the distinct feeling that I was going to puke.  I didn’t and we arrived at the start with about 2 hours to go before our race.  I got setup and started drinking a mix of HEED and Hornet Juice.  Not the best taste in the world, but I got it down.

The full start was really cool.  If you look in the picture, just on this side of the barriers is a guy in jeans and a black jacket, next to a lady in khaki capris.  That gentleman is none other than Dave Scott - IronMan legend!!!

After that, I got my wetsuit on, finished up clearing my transition area, and I was good to go. With 45 minutes to go, I hopped in and began my warm-up. The water was perfect! A little cool when you got in, but after a 100 yrds or so, I got used to it.

The lead iron distance swimmers started coming in at 46 minutes - did I mention the weather was absolutely perfect as well?

I swam around, mingled and broke one personal rule I promised I never would, but I’ll spare you the details.

8:30am and the horn blared! I positioned myself in the midst of the pack, hopefully to get a good draft from the group like I’d had at the Utah Half. I think I got a draft, but it was the most violent swim I’ve been in. Generally people swam straight, but every 30 seconds or so, someone would cut across and push me under to get to where ever they were going. Not only that, but guys kept getting on my feet - which I’m fine with - but they’d get up on my calves and start pushing down on my knees and my butt. I don’t usually kick much when I swim, and if I feel someone behind me, I’ll try and avoid hitting them, but after a couple of punches to the upper legs, I would start kicking and I landed a few nice shots.

The first leg out was brutal. We then had a short across swim, before beginning the trip back to the finish. I got a side stitch at this point, and also swam wide to recover a little. I got my breathing under control and the cramp subsided.

The final stretch wasn’t bad at all. It’s the longest competitive swim I’ve ever done (Utah half been cut short due to weather), but it went OK. With a couple of hundred yards to go, I had someone get on my legs again, and try and crawl up my butt, but I dispatched him with a couple of good kicks. Seriously… You have the whole lake, and you choose to climb on me… Jerk!

Ok - so it looks like this report is going long, and I should warn you that language may deteriorate a little as well.

Lesson 3: I need to get a lot faster in the water. I have the ability, I just need to work on the stamina. This way I don’t have to worry about fighting the masses!

My goal for the swim was 40 minutes and I was out in 39 and some change. I had my first experience with a wetsuit stripper, which could have gone better, but I was inexperienced in the process, so next time I’ll nail it.

T1 went OK, although not as quick as I had hoped. My goal was to hustle through both transitions, since I’d lost valuable time in these at Utah.

4 minutes or so later I was running up the hill with my bike. HUGE THANKS to the volunteer who offered to stuff my wetsuit in the bag for me. It really helped, although it’s not a job I think I’d want to do.

My goal for the bike was to conserve energy. I would bomb on the downhills where I could, but change down and take it easy on the hills. With 6000 ft of climbing ahead I would need everything I could get.

The only problem was that as I sat on my seat, I felt what seemed to be saddle pains. I think it might have been just cramping in my glutes, but it did worry me a little.

At mile 8 things were going well and I was feeling better on my seat.

At around mile 15 we had a nice long downhill. Midway down, as I came up on 4 or 5 athletes, a minivan started a mix of slowing down to cheer an athlete on, and indicating to try and pull over. Their athlete wasn’t very fast either and as traffic backed behind them, and an ominous hill loomed in front I made a snap decision. I pulled out behind the van, and in front of an absolutely SWEET new Dodge Viper. Crossing into the opposing lane, I pedaled for all I could, passed the van and then pulled back over.

I suspect a move like that could have been cause for a penalty or a DQ, but at the same time… Just because you want to say hi to your athlete, doesn’t give you a right to block the rest of us from doing our race, especially on a nice downhill!

Lesson 4: I need to get faster on the bike, so that these types of athletes and their supporters are behind me on the course.

By mile 30, I was beginning to feel it. I’d grabbed some water and refilled my aero bottle. I dropped a Cola Nuun in, and that mixed with the remaining HEED and Hornet Juice. Uggggh!!! I also wasn’t doing so well with my perpetuem, and I was starting to feel chaffing on my neck from the wetsuit. It also seemed like I’d been climbing for way too long, and ahead were “THE 3 SISTERS.

The 3 Sisters are 3 hills on a bike path. They have a grade of between 15% and 18% and I was relieved to find that they are only about 100 meters long each. I geared down and I was psyched and ready for them. Going up them wasn’t actually too bad. Plenty of people cheering on the sides and while they were tough, you could tell the end was in sight.

Having crested all three sisters, I realized something… It was only mile 37, and those 3 bitches had taken all of my energy! What Sadistic Bastard came up with those?!?  Now in all seriousness, Mr. Frank Lowery puts on a heck of a race, but at that point of the race, with all my energy gone….  Freakin’ Frank!!

I’m kinda smiling in this pic from mile 40, only because I was feeling accomplished at having put the 3 sisters behind me.

The remainder of the bike wasn’t too bad. Lot’s more climbing, but a couple of Oh-So-Sweet downhills, which were far too short.

HUGE shout out to some rather hot young lasses on the side of the path with “We love triathletes” and “Nice Legs”. You guys really helped me out!

The last mile or so was a gentle uphill, and I was hating my bike. Usually I dread starting the run, but this time I was more than ready. Perhaps longer races are my thing…

I handed off my bike to a volunteer and then had to grab it back to take my Garmin, Phone, IT strap and a 5 hours energy off the bike.

T2 I really tried to hustle. Back at the Utah half I took it far too easily. I sat down and tried to change everything over. I switched out my shirt to avoid chaffing, downed the 5 hour energy and was good to go. It felt pretty quick, but looking back it was over 4 minutes. I wonder if I didn’t hit the button until after I saw my sweet wife and kids.

The fam were waiting for me right as I exited the tent. High fives to all the kids and a somewhat sweaty and disgusting kiss for the wife.

Big smile on, cup of water down the hatch and off I went.

My legs felt great and I was soon passing people, some in my age group. Stopped by the porta potty at mile 1 and took off still feeling great.

The next couple of miles felt really good. They were uphill, but I was feeling strong, and while I wasn’t flying, I was passing people steadily. A nice quick downhill back to the start and then a brief stint on a bike path.

And then came the hill. I ran some, and walked some, but it was relentless.

Mile 7 and I could hear the beep of the timing mat - that sweet, sweet sound. I was still feeling good and looking forward to hitting the downhill.

Miles 8 through 10, I ran nice and strong. I passed a guy from my age group, and I was looking forward to being done. Around mile 10 the wheels fell off, as my right IT Band tightened up and started affecting my knee. I’d had some Endurolytes around mile 8 as well, and things weren’t feeling too kosher down south - if you know what I mean.

10 thru 12 was interesting. The fellow age grouper I passed on the hill and I started to play leap frog. We also ran through the district which was cool. It started with an aid station where the first 2 guys had names and numbers printed out. “Come on Michael!! You can do it!” The only down side was… I only get called Michael by telemarketers, or when I’m in trouble. I need to investigation the logistics of whether I can register for races as Mike - just for these reasons!!

That aid station rocked!! Grabbed some Coke and some Gatorade and headed off down the main section of the district to the tune of U2’s Magnificent. As I turned right and out of The District, I got some paralyzing cramps. My apologies if this is TMI, but they were the kind were you have to stop and clench. All those breathing techniques from the pre-birthing classes came into play as well. Hee hee hooooo,hee hee hooooo

My leap frog buddy passed me, and said, “Hey, let’s keep this up to the finished!”. I couldn’t!

I walked and ran, stopping occasionally to let the contractions pass…

The last 200 yds were great though. That light at the end of the tunnel makes finishing a race so much easier. In the final mile I got passed by another couple of guys in my age group, but as I entered the chute, I noticed no-one around, so I stopped and said hi to the fam again, and then continued on to break the tape and get my picture, medal and all of that.

The medal looks awesome, the finishers shirt is one I’ll get a lot of usage from and all in all I was glad to be done.

I think I may have had a wee stomach bug as well during the race, although I don’t think it affected my performance if I did. Usually I can eat a ton after a race, but after a quarter of a burrito at Del Taco that night, the nausea returned.

I woke up the next day, feeling like I’d run a marathon. Silverman truly kicked my butt.

I toyed with the idea of doing the full distance next year, but I think I’m going to have a go at the half again. My time this year was 7 hours and 17 minutes. I realized I have a lot of improvement to make, so perhaps when I can break 6 hours on this unforgiving course, I’ll look at bumping up to the next distance.

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With about 12 hours to go until I have to wake up and head out the door to catch my bus to the start, I figure that now is as good a time as any to come up with some goals and plans for tomorrow.

First, while I’m not sure about coverage and whether or not I’ll be in a state to do this, but…

I’m going to take my cell phone with me on the race, and if the opportunity arises, I’ll send updates from time to time to my twitter/twitpic feed, which will feed facebook as well.

If you’re not a facebook friend and would like to follow along, you can track me on:

http://twitter.com/kodafit

Hopefully it will include links to photo’s on twitpic as well.  At the very least you’ll get an update before I start and another when I get done.  If I have any more updates, I’ll include where I’m at and how I’m feeling.  So B37 6 would mean I’m at mile 37 on the bike and feeling like a 6.  Where 0 is “I’m going to die” and 10 is “I leading the race and feeling like I could keep this pace up all day.”

Alright, moving onto my plans…

We start with a 1.2 mile/2km swim at 8:30 in the morning.  I think I can pull this off in about 40 minutes, assuming of course the weather stays as perfect as it is right now!

I’m hoping for a fairly quick transition from swim to the bike - THEY HAVE STRIPPERS!!! and so if all goes well, by 9:15 I should be on my bike grinding up a fairly descent hill for the first mile or so.

The bike course at Silverman is rough.  They have the elevation gain listed at 6000 ft on the official website and I have a friend who downloaded the computrainer course and he said it was more like 9600 ft.  Either way, it’s a lot of UP, UP and then some more UP.  I’m not hoping to get anything close to the average I’ve gotten on other courses, but I would like to get a good time, and finish with enough power in my legs for a solid run.

I haven’t ridden the course, so I’m going real conservative on my time.  4 hours.  Which would give me an average speed of 14 mph.  We’ll see how it goes!  I have my Garmin set to autolap on the 3.5 mile marker, so hopefully I can use that to ensure I get my nutrition in at least every 15 minutes.

At my last half I had some mental struggles at T2.  Now granted the bike course had real hard weather on the way back in.  The 20-30 mph headwinds were one thing, but when the hail started, I thought it was a bit much.  I’m hoping T2 goes much better this time though.  I’m hoping to be done in less than 5 minutes as well.

For the run, I’ve had a couple of really good half marathons this year, but I think the biking prior will limit those times.  At the Utah Half I managed a 2:10.  This course has more hills on it, and so I’m hoping to push for a 2:15 or so.

Hopefully I can save 5 minutes either on the bike, or possibly on the run, or maybe even if I can really get my transition times down.  If I can it would mean a finish of 7 hours at about 3:30pm in the afternoon.

And then A LOT of relaxation.

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